2hollis transforms loss into a musical phoenix moment

Singer performs at the Shrine, his first local show since Altadena home burned down.

- By MIKI HELLERBACH

Photographs by SANDRA JAMALEDDINE "THE ENERGY that was there before didn't die," 2hollis says of Altadena.

On the night of Sept. 24, Hollis Frazier-Herndon performed an acoustic rendition of his song "Eldest Child" for a sold-out crowd at Shrine Auditorium. During his croon of the lyrics, "Eldest child, eldest child, I know your momma and your daddy so g- proud. They don't know me, no. They don't know me now," the artist known as 2hollis went from a fractured growl to a sweet silky falsetto to a full collapse into tears.

It was a moment of raw catharsis as well as a culmination. During a pre-show interview backstage, Hollis revealed the hidden meaning behind the lyrics. He said the figurative "momma and daddy" are actually his fans, whose expectations he's glad he's fulfilled, even though they "don't actually know each other" in real life.

Thus, a sold-out crowd enthusiastically singing back at him evoked an emotional release. In tandem with that, though, is the fact that this was 2hollis' first show in his hometown since his Altadena childhood house burned down in the January fires. The embrace from his extended community after he persevered through that tragedy and continued to ascend to musical stardom was palpable.

"I'm at a place now where I feel like, in a way, it's sort of a phoenix situation," Hollis said about his post-fire rise from the ashes. "The whole town burned down. It was terrible and insane. But it weirdly felt like that needed to happen [to make the new album what it is]. I don't know, it's hard seeing somewhere you grew up just be a deserted place." On the day before the release of his fourth album, "star," in April, 2hollis posted a picture of a burntedged tarot card with the same title. He added a message explaining that the star card was the only thing he and his mother found intact when they returned to Altadena to assess the damage.